


Spilled Milk

by SerenePhenix



Series: Shenanigan(g)s [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Confrontations, Friendship, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Lance's friends not taking anymore of his excuses, Rating for cussing and arguing in the first chapter, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-08 23:24:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12264204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerenePhenix/pseuds/SerenePhenix
Summary: Lance cannot expect them to lie for him when he promised to be honest.OR: Lance has a fall-out with his friends over a serious matter and then gains a lot of insight from a nice stranger.





	1. Shiro

Shiro jumped a mile, the book he’d been reading tumbling out of his hands as his head snapped towards the entrance to the living room although that wasn’t where the ruckus was coming from.

The door slamming shut had to be Hunk and Lance’s.

“YOU ASSHOLE!”

Shiro sat still as feet stormed down the narrow hall and Lance appeared in the intersection between the bathroom, the entrance and the living room area.   
The tan boy was red in the face, a grimace of pure fury contorting it as he stomped in place for a second before turning to look at whoever was coming running down the hall.

“Geez calm down.” It was Keith but Shiro could not see him. Who he did see instead were Hunk and Pidge coming out of the kitchen looking both alarmed and curious and Shiro only understood all too well.

In three months, they had never heard Lance shout like this, never had heard him cuss like this not even when he and Keith got into some sort of spat over who had actually or technically won that round of Mario Kart.

But Shiro could tell that this was different. The very air around their new roommate was static and hot and Shiro could feel ire that was not his seep in through his skin.

Lance was breathing heavily, hands balled into fists. His knuckles were beginning to turn white from it.

“You had no fucking right! Who even asked you!”

They all watched and waited, unable to guess what this was about. They’d been doing their own things on this lazy Saturday, one of the few where Lance did not have to work any shifts for once. But one look at him had sufficed to unanimously decide that pushing him to go out to town would be nothing short of cruel.

It also had left the air stale with frustration and worry.

“I don’t get it.” And Keith did indeed sound upset in the way he always did when he was having a hard time understanding what he was missing. “It’s not like they didn’t know already-“

“THAT’S THE FUCKING POINT!” Lance’s voice was shrill, painful to listen to and making them all wince. “THEY DIDN’T AND YOU JUST HAD TO RUN YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH AND-“

“Lance!”

Shiro didn’t know when he had gotten up suddenly but whatever this was about it had to stop soon. He could not think of Keith doing anything that warranted this amount of animosity.

Blue eyes turned to him, their anger not diminishing just because it was Shiro he was now facing. It occurred to him that the student had to be beyond reasoning at this point but he had to try anyway.

“Look” he began and already Lance rolled his eyes, glowering at the floorboards next to the rows of shoes, arms crossed and shoulders hunched “whatever this is about you have to calm down.”

It was the wrong thing to say.

“Shut up!”

He was taken aback by the sheer viciousness as was everybody else apparently.

“Woah, Lance calm down.” Hunk sounded reproachful, coming up beside Shiro with Pidge in tow, her face drawn into a frown.

Keith fast approached, grabbing Lance by the bicep, actually shaking him.

“Hey, if you’re angry with me, _fine_ , but leave Shiro out of this.”

His advance had startled Lance but not long enough to make him forget about his anger, pushing at Keith, the black haired teen instantly letting go.

“You” and Lance sounded like he was ready to actually attack him “don’t get to act all high and mighty when you cannot mind your own _goddamn business!_ ”

“What’s going on with you two anyway?”

Pidge looked ready to fight and Shiro wanted to diffuse the situation as fast as possible.

Lance’s mouth snapped shut so fast that Shiro could hear his teeth click against each other.

It only now seemed to dawn on him that they had an audience. He shrank back, all of that anger and self-righteousness waning as if ripped away by a tidal wave, revealing something akin to shame .

They stared at him, not having expected that kind of reaction but Keith’s eyes narrowed.

“I get it now.”

His voice was low and Lance positively _flinched,_ head turning so fast Shiro could feel his own muscles protest. His blue eyes were wide and wary.

“You never told your family you were studying while working two jobs.”

The way Lance’s shoulders stiffened, the way he glared at Keith, reminded Shiro of a cat with its fur bristled.

Keith gave a whistle and it was strange in so far as Shiro knew that it was what his little brother did when he was actually solving a puzzle and figuring something out.

“So that’s why-“

“Yeah, that’s why she fucking shouted at me! No shit Sherlock!”

In a flash, the anger was back, the Latino turning and grabbing his jacket and sneakers, ready to storm out of the door.

“Woah!”

He caught Lance’s elbow, the young man stilling but making no move whatsoever to turn around and face them.

Shiro did not even bother with nicety any longer, cutting right to the heart of the matter.

“Don’t you think you are being unfair?”

Under his hand, he could feel muscles and tendons shift as Lance balled his hand into a fist.

“They were not supposed to know.” The words came out pressed and hard; it was difficult to understand them but for some reason, Shiro always could somehow read between the lines with Lance. It had become a common joke within their circle of friends. But Shiro knew that it was mostly owed to the fact that, despite their many differences, he and Lance had a lot in common – more than Shiro would have liked.

“And how were we supposed to?” He knew Lance understood he was not referencing to his two jobs but to the fact that Lance had expected any of them to know he had lied to his family. Because that’s the picture Shiro was starting to piece together.

Lance jerked his arm out of his grasp, still refusing to look at them, lowering himself to slip on his sneakers wordlessly.

“Are you seriously running away?”

Shiro closed his eyes. He had no idea how his hands did not end up in a praying gesture. Lance’s glare was venomous as he looked back at Keith.

“So what!”

He stomped his feet, giving a frustrated growl as the cuff scrunched up in a way that looked uncomfortable.

“Well,” Hunk came forward; passing Shiro and the man was surprised at how displeased the usually easy-going engineer came off with his big arms crossed over his chest. Not even the pinkish apron did anything about diminishing his overall intimidating aura, “why don’t you man up and face your problems?”

It was completely unexpected, or at least it was to Lance: the challenging glare, the no-nonsense tone. If, secretly, Shiro weren’t agreeing with Hunk he might have felt sorry for Lance. But honestly, they were all starting to get to that point where enough was enough.

“What do you mean?” Lance’s voice was cautious, gauging their reactions carefully as he clutched harder at his jacket still dangling in his grasp. It did not seem like he would back down on his own stance without a fight, making Shiro all the more nervous about the argument that could be delayed no longer. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

That did not mean he had to like it.

Hunk unwound his arms so fast that he almost hit Shiro in the face, giving a very deep and drawn-out grunt filled with exasperation.

“You know, the whole point of this moving together was to actually help, remember?” Even as Lance looked away, his mouth tugged down into an unhappy frown, Hunk went on. “And I mean, yeah, you may no longer be looking like ‘death warmed over’ but that’s little less reassuring than ‘overworked zombie’.”

Lance’s nose scrunched up in anger thinly veiled distaste at the comment about his appearance, glowering at Hunk through his eyelashes. It was strange to see him so subdued with Hunk when he had had little qualms about screaming into Keith’s face.

“I have to do it. My family shouldn’t have to –“

“Bullshit!”

Despite her voice being nothing like Hunk’s in depth or intensity, Pidge’s shout was fierce and fearsome, making all of them take a step back. She stood ram-rod straight, shaking with her own brand of fury and this time Shiro did feel bad for Lance.

Pidge, when angered, could be a force of nature – unstoppable and devastating.

She went up to Lance jabbing her finger into his sternum so hard it made all of them wince, Lance’s hands coming up to protect his chest as she persisted.

“Let me guess? You promised your family you would concentrate on your studies, didn’t you? And don’t even try to deny it- I can _see_ that you’re about to!”

Lance’s mouth shut before he had even really opened it, staring at Pidge with apprehension as she continued her rant.

“And, yeah I guess it’s pretty hard, but what fucking good will it do if you fail your classes because you’re struggling to get from one job to the next? You’re always on about how hard it is to keep up with homework and stuff, constantly complain about how much you hate working at that stupid coffee-shop and never stop bitching about how much of a hassle it’s to get from one part of town to the next, about how tired you always are. Well, newsflash! That won’t change as long as you don’t do something about it!”

Through it all, Shiro worried as Lance’s face took on a stony expression, making it impossible to know what he might be feeling or thinking. He had never seen him this impassive and it was scary. Pidge was starting to breathe hard but it was clear she had yet to run out of steam.

“And I hate it every time you raincheck any kind of activity we had planned. It’s been like this for weeks and it’s starting to get annoying especially when you start making promises about ‘next time’, scrambling to get everything done, only to be overworked and tired and excusing yourself and trying to get me or everyone else to put it off for another day, for another week, for another _month_ for Pete’s sake!”

Finally, it seemed like she had reached her limit, her whole frame weighed down by something desolate. Her voice, so strong and heated mere seconds ago, suddenly turned to something much quieter.

“I just…”, she took a deep breath, sounding as tired as Lance actually looked, “Why are you doing this to yourself? I don’t get it. I understand you want to help your family but… is this really the only way? Can’t you quit that stupid barista job and just work more shifts at that pizza place if you have to? At least, Anita treats you like an actual human being.” The next words seemed to cause her physical pain as she pressed them out but they conveyed pretty well what all of them were feeling at this point. “I hate to see you always being on the brink of exhaustion. I hate how you never get to do anything that’s not related to work or college. Hate how you often come back from that Starcoffee place looking like you’re about to cry. And I _hate_ how you always refuse our help. I hate it.”

Shiro was glad that Pidge allowed him to put an arm around her shoulders and let her lean into him, the rant having taken a lot out of her.

There was no indication whatsoever as to what Lance was thinking, not even the frown on his face could be safely pinned as a displeased or thoughtful one.

They stood, waiting and watching and hoping that Lance would say something, _anything_.

His lips drew into a thin line before he turned around and went out the door without another word, leaving them all standing in the hallway.

He wished Hunk didn’t point out that this had been a total disaster.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes talking to a stranger can be a huge relief.
> 
> OR
> 
> Sometimes, you don’t even need advice to come to a conclusion.
> 
> (I’m breaking tradition since this won’t be from Shiro’s POV for once)

Lance threw another stone with as much force as he could muster, preparing for impact, and watching as it was about to make contact with the clear, reflective surface. Anticipation filled him, hoping the sound would blast away all his tension and anger.

The stone soared and broke the surface of the lake with a tiny bloop.

Lance made a face, disgruntled that even something as simple as skipping stones was not working today. He kicked at a pebble, sending it flying and watching as it was swallowed by the murky water as well.

He took a deep breath before squatting down and looking for more suitable ammunition, inspecting each and every stone, running his fingers over smooth or coarse surfaces, weighing them in his hand individually, and dropping whichever did not suit his needs.

He was glad that the park was exactly where he needed it to be: not so far away from the apartment that he might regret coming here later, but not close enough for the others to come searching for him here.

He hadn’t yet gotten around to showing Hunk this spot and maybe it might be a good decision to not do so in the future. He needed a place to unwind, needed a little room to breathe when he was already this angry and agitated.

He stood, listening as the wind rustled the leaves of a willow bending over the shore, watched as a few leaves drifted lazily down onto the water’s surface and wiped away the ones that got caught in his hair and hoodie.

In the distance the honking of cars and the deep rumble of bus engines broke some of the magic of the peaceful atmosphere.

He positioned himself, legs spread a little to stand more firmly and motioned his arm back and forth, focusing on a spot on the other shore. Then, with one swift movement he sent the stone flying, positive that this time he had found the right angle, but again the stone broke surface and sank.

If Lance possessed one quality that had helped him throughout his life, then it had to be his inexhaustible stubbornness. He would stay here until he finally got what he wanted, even if it took him all day. Which sounded kind of appealing if he were being honest.

He did not think he had it in him to face his friends right now. Not after their faces filled with something quiet but undeniable.

It was why his phone had been muted and then, as a precaution, he had not only turned it off but removed the battery entirely. He knew what Pidge was capable of doing with a laptop and a keyboard, and he was not keen on her trying out her witchcraft-like hacker skills on him when the last thing he wanted was to be found.

The other reason had been the notification of three missed calls from his mom’s cell. Now _that_ was a conversation he _definitely_ not did not want to have. For all it was worth, he would give her some time to cool down a little – his mama could be fearsome when angered and that’s exactly what Lance had managed to do.

Ignoring his initial objective, Lance threw the next pebble with as much force as he could muster, drops spraying everywhere, tiny waves gently lapping at the tips of his sneakers.

All that hard work, all the smiling and pretending for months and Keith had to ruin it with one damn question. All of his hard work – destroyed like a house of cards by a draft from a window.

The next stone did skip, but only once. Still, Lance could work with that.

He wondered where it had gone wrong.

Maybe when he had invited Keith into his and Hunk’s room… But that was unfair. Lance had been planning on introducing his new friends to his family at some point, Keith just poking his head in while he was Skyping had been a coincidence, and one he had taken advantage of.

Maybe when he had not taken back the conversation where it was supposed to go?

Or maybe, just maybe, when he had started this whole mess five months ago.

Lance could pretend all he wanted but he was well damn aware of the fact that it had started with one lie.

A lie he had told straight into his mama’s face and which went against any and all agreements they had made upon his enrollment into college.

One single lie disguised as a gentle whisper that he was going to be fine, that he’d pull through.

He remembered the many evenings he had sat at the kitchen table with his parents, discussing the options, discussing the costs, discussing the terms, discussing his future.

Their family was big, children of all ages ranging from adults already done with their education and working to young tots barely old enough to begin primary.

And as much as anyone might want to argue with him, Lance knew that education was a privilege, involved so many long nights pouring over textbooks just so he could have a chance to get to where he was now.

If it hadn’t been for his parents pushing and lifting him up when necessary, Lance really could not say if he ever might have achieved his goal.

And after everything his parents had done for him, all he’d wanted to do was give them back a little bit of that care they had shown him his whole life.

The next stone skipped three times but Lance was only distantly aware of it as he remembered his parents sitting at their kitchen table while he peeked through the door and saw his mama heave a deep sigh, papers and flyers spread out before her.

He had never seen her head hang so low, had never once seen his father look at her with such dark, understanding eyes. It was an image to forever be burned into his mind.

Someone gave an appreciative whistle: “Not bad, not bad at all!”

He jumped, shrieking and whirled around to see a girl his age sitting on the boulder right next to him.

She giggled, her dark hand coming up to hide her smile, amber eyes crinkling.

It took Lance a moment to get his heart to calm down, the girl looking at him kindly as she reclined back and watching him in interest. The golden hoops she was wearing swayed when she cocked her head to the side in clear amusement.

He swallowed, chuckling as he made a show of adjusting his jacket. Soon enough he had his best, confident smile at the ready.

“Thanks. It comes with practice.”

She hummed, casting a contemplative look at the lake’s surface.

“It sure does, but I think it’d work better if you used smoother stones.”

“Yeah…”, Lance admitted, his hand coming up to rub at the base of his neck, “I’m usually better at this but it seems like today’s just destined for everything to go wrong.”

He smiled at her, the corner of his mouth tugging down briefly despite his greatest efforts. The girl blinked at him before making a face of feigned hurt he instantly knew was only for show.

“Oh my, this has to be the first time someone has told me that meeting me was a bad experience.”

Although he knew she was only dragging him for fun, Lance felt punched to the stomach. He hadn’t thought when he had said that, had not in the slightest considered what it might mean and yeah, the girl might have been joking but that blunder had to be rectified immediately.

“That’s- that’s not what I meant. Not at all!”

Either it was the deep blush or his wild flailing, but she broke out into peals of laughter that had her rocking back and forth on the boulder. She really had a nice laugh, rich and unrestrained.

“Of course not. I’m just messing with you.”

Trying to salvage what he could of his image, Lance gave a shrug with one of his shoulders, waving about one of his hands.

“Well, so did I.”

He really worried she might fall off again when she just kept on laughing and Lance could feel himself relax.

“So, what brings someone as lovely as you to such a lovely place?”

It was all in good humor, a simple compliment towards a person that had been able to make him forget for just a moment why was running around in circles, sulking, chucking pebbles into a pond until his shoulders burned.

She leveled him with a meaningful look, a tiny impish glint in her eyes.

“Careful now. If my brother hears you, you gonna be in trouble.”

Lance reeled back, arms up as though ready to confess to a crime. If there was one thing he knew for certain from his own family, it was that you did not mess with a girl who had brothers.

“What? Are we no longer allowed to tell people they look great? Please, tell me he’s not here right now, waiting behind a bush to get me into a headlock,” he whispered, looking around the shore with wide eyes for dramatic effect.

She shook her head, the golden hoops glinting in the sunlight. Her smile was sweet and innocent.

“No worries. He isn’t in town anyway.”

Lance made a sound of surprise, going back to his scavenging for good stones as the mystery girl remained seated, merely watching him in interest.

“And why’s that?” He looked at her while weighing the stone he was holding in his hand and dropping it when it became clear it was once again too heavy.

She made herself more comfortable, letting her feet dangle over the edge of her perch, the tips of her sandals barely brushing the surface of the water, ripples ghosting over it. He was kind of amazed how someone could feel comfortable running around dressed as lightly as she was – knee-long gypsy skirt and strappy top- when he was suddenly reminded of Hunk, burning furnace extraordinaire.

“Well, he wanted to go over some numbers again this week-end to make sure everything was in order and since our company’s stationed at the next town over I just thought I’d pay a good friend of mine a visit,” she explained, shaking her head when Lance held up a stone and agreeing that it obviously wasn’t suited. He still flung it into the lake over his shoulder the tiny ‘bloop’ it made very satisfying.

“That’s cool. I bet they’re excited.”

She hummed, inclining her head and looking at the sky as though she needed to think about it, that little quirk of her lips never leaving.

“Probably not, since I did not tell him.”

Lance made an appreciative sound as he pushed away a fallen log with his feet: “So a surprise visit. Now that’s even better.”

This time the pebble was a beautiful black, smooth and slim and a perfect oval – far too pretty to be tossed out onto the water but just perfect in every way he could have wished for. Oh, this was a tough one. To throw, or not to throw…

Mystery girl watched as the find silently glided into the pocket of his jacket before mutely pointing at some stone to his left. He instantly followed her silent instruction, searching for the exact one she had in mind.

“And what kind of business do you have?”

He held up a brown pebble and she shook her head, small smile quirking her lips. He let it fall down instantly, the clack satisfying to hear as he dove back down.

“We’re a construction company. Maybe you’ve heard of it? Bahlmeeran Constructions?”

“Nope, sorry.” He gave an apologetic smile, holding up the next one, mystery girl just snorting. Yeah, that one looked like a misshapen potato. It disappeared with a splash.

“It makes sense, I guess. We’ve never worked outside of our hometown until recently. My brother thinks it’s time we expanded our business.”

Lance nodded along with a hum, search ongoing but still signaling his interest. Mystery girl took the invitation, obviously enjoying herself as she talked about her family, telling him everything from how her father had started from scratch with just his brothers, his wife, and a few cousins, how he had always faced struggles head-on, how much love and dedication he had put into this company, how he had proven wrong all of those people telling him it was a pipe dream and how, inevitably, she had been drawn in.

All the while Lance listened, adding stories and little mishaps from his own family history into the mix, laughing alongside his new friend as he meticulously selected stone after stone with her help.

“Sometimes, I like to imagine the lives of the people that will live in the houses or tenements we construct.”

It was the sheer warmth underlying those words that had him look up at her, uncaring of the throw that would now miss. Her smile was indescribably soft.

It had him a little dumb-struck, so much so that it took him a moment to react to her outstretched hand, fingers signaling for him to pass her another stone from the sizeable pile he had gathered over the length of their conversation. He could feel his cheeks burning as he dove for the desired item, his new friend all the while laughing good-naturedly.

Her stone skipped at least five times.

“Any kind of special scenarios?” he asked, genuinely curious as to what she was hiding behind that distant gaze.

“Nothing out of the ordinary. Just…,” she worked her lips as she considered the question and Lance used that moment to skip his own stone. It sank after only four wobbly leaps.

“I just like to think about how we’re making a home for everyone. Somewhere they like to go back to after a long, hard day. A place they’re happy to return to again and again. I hope that if I put all of my hard work and love into it… that the people who will one day live there will feel it somehow.”

Her blush was adorable and would have even been more charming if she didn’t look so flustered.

“I’m sorry. I know it must sound silly. Rax thinks it is anyway.”

“No!”

It was louder than he expected, making him and mystery girl jump in surprise. Her eyes were huge as she stared at him mutely, Lance feeling mortification seep in, his arms flailing before his brain got any say in it.

“What I mean is that it’s actually really sweet.”

He took a deep breath, letting his arms fall to his sides, one hand slowly snaking up to rub at the skin at the base of his neck, fingers playing around with strands that had gotten a little too long. When his eyes met hers, there was no longer a trace of alarm, giving Lance enough determination to go on.

“And I’m pretty sure that people do pick up on these kind of things. It’s hard to miss when something’s made with love. Also, your brother sounds like a stick in the mud.”

She gave snort, her hand coming up to cover the bottom half of her face, and even when she seemingly had her facial expression under control it was painfully obvious that she was having a hard time keeping her amusement at bay.

“As his sister, it is my duty to defend my brother’s honor in public.” Her eyes darted left and right, Lance mimicking her before the smirk slowly stretching her lips caught his full attention. “But seeing as there is no one else but us, yeah, if you look up the definition of party pooper, you’ll be sure to find his picture next to it.”

It didn’t matter how much his back would hate him for it in the days to come, Lance found himself on the ground, laughing like he hadn’t done in a while, mystery girl snickering quietly but leaving him painfully alone to ride out his fit.

“Wheew, that was _great._ ”

He smiled up at her and she perched down to retrieve new ammunition. Lance just listened to the sound of stones hitting the water’s surface, staring up at the sky that was slowly fading into rich evening colors, although he knew it could not be any later than four in the afternoon.

The quiet atmosphere between them was nice and he was glad for the company, not really having looked forward to stewing in his own thoughts for too long.

The sudden reminder as to why he was actually here and not in a warm apartment in his bed, settled over him like a heavy, leaden blanket.

He knew he had overreacted. He knew he needed to apologize at the end of the day.

As for the other issues… what was he supposed to do? He may have promised his parents that he would not work more than one job but that did not change the fact that, sometimes, at the end of the money there was a whole lot of month left.

Although it had become somewhat easier to set aside whatever tips he got at his jobs now. Which might have had to do with the fact that he was no longer spending more than half of his earnings on rent. But only maybe. Just maybe.

His brows were almost welded together as Pidge’s assertions, on point and painfully true, reverberated in his skull. Of course she was right, she was a freaking genius for heaven’s sake! If anyone knew what they were talking about, it’d be Pidge.

He rolled onto his side, head wedged between his arms, eyes following the path of every stone. It was entrancing, mystery girl leaving him to ponder in silence. It might have been his expression or his body language tipping her off, but Lance could not be entirely sure of that.

Mystery girl was different from him. She loved what she did with her entire heart and soul. There was no denying it, and to a certain degree he might have felt a little jealous.

Lance did not dislike the nature of his second job per se: interacting with people, drawing a smile out of (most) of them when there were metaphorical clouds hanging over their heads. But none of that could gloss over the fact that his boss, a man as mean as he was intimidating, had made it his personal mission to make Lance as uncomfortable as possible whenever he came through the personnel’s backdoor.

The constant glances over his shoulders as he worked on an order, the quiet threats to keep him longer after exchanging a few words with another poor college kid in need of a pep talk, the ill-disguised insults about his efficiency or his intellect if anything, no matter how insignificant or beyond his control, disrupted the dreadful routine.

Lance knew that that kind of behavior involved levels of pettiness he could never understand. And all of this, only because he had accidently spilled a venti cup over the counter on his first day, and over the man’s polished faux-leather shoes.

Lance even wondered why the man had not fired him at once.

Probably because Lance was the perfect victim: an almost penniless college student in desperate need of any kind of job, no matter how bad the salary or the treatment by the one in charge.

The groan leaving his throat was deep and guttural, his hands wiping over his face.

Why did Pidge always have to be right?

“You okay?”

He glanced at mystery girl, her face filled with open concern and kindness.

“Nah, I’m fine. Just realized something.”

He turned, pebbles and fallen twigs digging into his back through the fabric of his hoodie.

“Doesn’t sound like it was a pleasant one.”

His chuckle came out rougher than intended. “Not really, no.”

Maybe it was time he quit. Maybe he had really gotten so desperate that he had lost sight of the long-term aim, as Hunk had reminded him.

He had reserves now; probably enough to get him by until he found something else. Some other job where his boss would not be a complete asshole.

As nice as Pidge’s suggestion had sounded, there was no way that his contract with Anita would allow him to take any more shifts. Also, and that thought alone drew a smile out of him, he no longer had to fear that he might have to choose between starving himself or paying his rent. His friends would never allow that to happen.

He wasn’t alone anymore, in a city far away from home. He had friends now.

But first, he needed to make things right again.

As for the situation with his mama… that would demand very careful planning and possibly cajoling Shiro into helping him write out a speech to formally ask for forgiveness. Honestly, the man was so good with words it was scary – he’d probably get people to jump off of roofs for him, no questions asked, if he really put his mind to it.

Okay, so:

  1. Apologize to the others.
  2. Apologize to his mama (and hope both his limbs and dignity would remain intact).
  3. Ditch his shitty job and get a new one.



Having a plan felt nice and it was with renewed vigor that he leapt to his feet, his new friend blinking at his sudden activity.

He threw her a smile, mind already working in overdrive.

“Sorry, but could I borrow your phone? Gotta call someone.”

He wasn’t even finished before the phone was already being pressed into his hand.

It took a few minutes, and a lot of reminders that he was owed for his generous services throughout the semester, but by the end of it all Lance was practically buzzing with unrestrained energy and thirst for some real action. Handing back the small device, ornamented with stones and glitter, he beamed at his friend.

“Man, thank you so so much! You’re a life savior!”

His enthusiasm was met with laughter.

“I hope this works out for you. Sounds like you have a long afternoon before you.”

“Naaah,” Lance drew out, waving a hand in a dismissive gesture, “easy as pie.”

The joke earned him another chuckle, before amber eyes glinted with determination that mirrored his own.

“Now goooo! You got a job to do.”

“Well, if that ain’t the truth.” His hands automatically snapped into finger guns as his feet already carried him back up the slope.

“Good luck!”

And with one last wave back at her he ran for his next stop, feeling lighter than he ever would have thought possible after the morning he’s had.

\----

It’s only later, when he is almost literally elbow-deep in his little project, that he realizes with a sudden curse that he completely forgot to ask for a first name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess everyone knows who mystery girl is and I just hope I did her justice. She needs more love :')


End file.
